Although the act of swearing, or cursing, has today been reduced to the four-letter interjection and unimaginative put-down, this has not always been the case. Elegant, sublime oaths and vicious imprecations mark the history of human conduct and language. Shedding light on the forbidden, misunderstood, and clandestinely pursued forms of interpersonal communication, The Anatomy of Swearing uniquely documents the history of taboo words and phrases. It presents the curious inquirer with a summary of what the best minds and most accomplished practitioners of the art have said and done inventively in the form of indiscrete, insulting, spiteful, or otherwise objectionable speech.
Swearing is one of the most cathartic and common modes of language. Montagu examines the genre in all its aspects--its origins, philosophy, and psychology--as well as its evolution and differing manifestations in various ages and cultures. Montagu demonstrates that the human race, regardless of time and culture, has always used invective to lighten its burden. The Anatomy of Swearing traces this phenomenon from the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and Babylonians through Elizabethan England to the middle class of contemporary America.
A list of the most common and offensive expletives in the English language is bound to make you laugh, but there is much to learn about human interaction and behavior by examining the significance of swear words throughout human history. And what better reason to read a book littered with the world's unacceptable speech.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A pioneering work."--Steven Smith, University of Essex
"Montagu uses his subject for all sorts of good-humored wit and satire and a considerable amount of wisdom."--New York Times
About the Author
Ashley Montagu was a prolific author whose works include Touching: The Human Significance of Skin and The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why the Hell is it so damn expensive?,
By
This review is from: The Anatomy of Swearing (Paperback)
This is a damn fun an fookin' facinating book, but I'll be damned if i'd pay nearly THIRTY frickin' dollars for a G-d damed paperback.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immensely Useful Book,
This review is from: The Anatomy of Swearing (Paperback)
This book takes an in-depth and serious approach to a subject all too often either ridiculed or condemned by other authors. Intensely useful for the student (or just the curious) who would like to look at a language phenomenon without the immaturity so many people treat it with.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
SWEARING constitutes a species of human behavior so little understood, even by its most devoted practitioners, that an examination of its meaning and significance is now long overdue. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
negative swearing, accomplished swearer, thou swearest, cursing tablet, twopenny damn, light wench, favorite oath, word bloody, profane swearing, nonliterate peoples, common oath, century bloody, great oaths Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Friar John, World War, Ben Jonson, New York, United States, Standard English, Oxford English Dictionary, Mark Twain, Middle Ages, Robert Graves, Tristram Shandy, Great Powers, Havelok the Dane, Julian Sharman, Lord Chamberlain, Theatre Royal, Bernard Shaw, Dan Michel, Don Juan, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, Eric Partridge, Lord God, New England, Burges Johnson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
SWEARING constitutes a species of human behavior so little understood, even by its most devoted practitioners, that an examination of its meaning and significance is now long overdue. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
negative swearing, accomplished swearer, thou swearest, cursing tablet, twopenny damn, light wench, favorite oath, word bloody, profane swearing, nonliterate peoples, common oath, century bloody, great oaths Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Friar John, World War, Ben Jonson, New York, United States, Standard English, Oxford English Dictionary, Mark Twain, Middle Ages, Robert Graves, Tristram Shandy, Great Powers, Havelok the Dane, Julian Sharman, Lord Chamberlain, Theatre Royal, Bernard Shaw, Dan Michel, Don Juan, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, Eric Partridge, Lord God, New England, Burges Johnson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
19
books
cite this book:
See all 19 books citing this book
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Modern Library Classics) by Laurence Sterne on 5 pages
- Titus Andronicus (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare on 4 pages
- Don Juan (Penguin Classics) by Lord George Gordon Byron on 4 pages
- On the Sublime (Texts & Studies in Religion) by Longinus on page 28, page 191, and Back Matter
- Romeo And Juliet (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Saddleback Classics) by William Shakespeare on page 241, and page 289
See all 100 books this book cites
- Daily Life in 18th-Century England (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series) by Kirstin Olsen on 4 pages
- The Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson on page 215, and Back Matter
- Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power from 1586 to the Present (Routledge Advances in Corpus Linguistics) by Tony McEnery on page 2, and Back Matter
- Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others? by Edwin L. Battistella in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 19 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
